Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow’s response to foreign sanctions is ‘very reserved’ and added that new attempts to exert external pressure would only mean introducing new measures to protect national interests.
Putin made the statement at the Russian Energy Week event which is currently taking place in Moscow. He said that the main objective of authorities, who had made decisions on counter sanctions, was not to harm the nation and that was the key to their limited nature.
READ MORE: Almost 80 percent of Russians say they are not affected by Western sanctions
The Russian leader also hinted at the remaining potential that Russia possessed for future economic and political standoffs.
In the same speech, Putin admitted that sanctions were very harmful, primarily for the nations that initiate them. Putin stressed that Moscow categorically opposed restrictions introduced against foreign states which bypass the United Nations. He called such steps illegal and said that they would never receive any support from Russia.
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The sanctions exchange between Russia and United States and its allies started in 2014 with Western nations blacklisting certain Russian officials and companies they held allegedly responsible for the political crisis in Ukraine and subsequent accession of the Crimean Republic into the Russian Federation.
Russia replied with a similar blacklist on foreign officials involved in violations of rights of Russian citizens and human rights in general as well as with a broad embargo on agricultural produce imports from hostile nations.
The latter move resulted in a boom in Russian domestic agricultural sector and adjacent machine-building industries. As a result, in 2017 Russian agricultural exports hit the historical record of $20.7 billion and is expected to reach $23 billion in 2018.
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